Thursday, March 27, 2008

Another New Tale to Tell

I whipped up a very short story for your reading pleasure, I hope you like it. This tale involves Kilon, an elf mentioned in the Trial By Fire chapter of Emily & The Silent King. You can access it by clicking here or on the short stories link.

The story recreates some of the events in the chapter, but is told from Kilon's point of view. I am planning on doing more like it. These stories are quick, fun and give me more ideas for future stories and characters.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

I've Got Some Ideas

I've been busy working on some things I want to add to the blog. I'm hoping these things will draw more people to my blog as well as stimulate some feedback. I don't have a solid time frame for when they will be added but they should be popping up over the next few weeks depending on the amount of free time I get to work on them. I'll give you a brief run down of what I have planned so far.

First up, I have come up with some logos to represent the two warring factions, one hinted at in Devin & The Empire of Wolves is called the Black Circle and the other will be named in Book Three (I have a tentative title but I'm keeping it secret for now).

Second, I will be adding character bios. These bios will detail some of the main movers & shakers in the realms of Midralon. I will try to add pictures as well.

Third, some geek gear will be added to the site. I am going to start making the logos and names that I design available on t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc. This one will probably take the longest to add, but we'll see how it goes.

Fourth, I am thinking of adding a forum group to the site as well. I will have to find a host and pick the software but that one shouldn't be too hard.

Fifth, I will be working on some more artwork. I am making a new cover for the paperback edition of Emily & The Silent King and will be adding shots of that work in progress as well as other things. My oldest daughter is a big fan of manga so I am going to try and create some manga style images. Maybe even some short manga-style comic panels of scenes from the books.

Well that's all I have for now, like I said everything will be dependent upon the time I get to work on it. I'm always open to new suggestions so please feel free to send me any other ideas you have.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Introducing the gargrin

As promised here are some of the concept sketches I made of the creatures appearing in book two Devin & the Empire of Wolves. The gargrin are giant six legged mutant rats that are supposed to be as big as a horse. The first sketch I made without reference material and when it was done it ended up looking more wolf-like. My wife said it didn't look very ratty and I agreed. Please ignore the scan lines, I'm still trying to get my old scanner to work with Vista but for now my wife is using her scanner. Here is that first sketch:
So I went back to the drawing board and tried to make the gargrin more ratty looking. Now the consensus is that it looks too ratty! LOL I can't win! So here is the second sketch:
So where does that leave our six legged friend? Well I may do some head swapping and some body morphing. I think the gargrin is somewhere between these two images. I'll keep posting some shots so you can see for yourself.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Mug Shot


I still can't find a picture that I would like to post as my bio pic. I had short hair last year, but this year I'm sorta taking a vacation from the scissors & razor if you get my meaning. Right now I sorta look like this guy. Almost wizardly wouldn't you say? 10 geek points if you can give me the name of this villain (the character's name, not the actor!) In fact I may start a weekly contest of guess the villain. It's always fun to identify the bad guys! Oh and they might not all be from film, I may throw in some literary descriptions!
In other news I started sketching out one of the creatures that appears in book two. I guess I wouldn't be giving anything away if I tell you it's called a gargrin. What's a gargrin you ask? Well read book two and find out! Or you could wait for me to post my sketches up here. The first sketch, while it kind of looks menacing isn't quite right. You'll see what I mean when I post it.
As for writing, I am continuing to work on bits and pieces. Mostly trying to tidy up what I've already written. Every time I look at something I've written I want to revise the stuffing out of it. I think if I get caught in that vicious circle I will never escape. I will just hope that my writing grows stronger with each novel. Having said that, I think I will be starting book three very soon. I'm anxious to see what is going to happen in Midralon next!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Bummer

I received a disappointing email from Lulu.com. It turns out that I formatted my book wrong and it needs to be reformatted and resubmitted into distribution. I wish it hadn't taken six weeks for them to find this. Now I have to order another copy as a proof and wait for that to ship before I can resubmit it into the distribution process. So it's looking like another ten weeks before I can put the book up on Amazon.

So I spent some time redoing my book description for Emily & The Silent King and touching up a couple other things on the lulu.com bookstore. I'm torn between giving too much information away in my summary and trying to make it attractive to potential buyers. I still haven't found the happy middle ground.

I also revised the free short story. I wanted to change the wording around a little to see if I could make it read better. Since I didn't receive any comments on it yet, I'm still curious as to what anyone who has read it thinks.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Free Short Story!

I borrowed this idea from an article my wife emailed me about another writer's blog. He offers free content on his site including short stories and artwork. I figured I'd give it a try as well. So here it is, the first of my free short stories: Stormhoof! I will be keeping links to the free short stories on the right nav bar, so look there if you ever want to return to one. Click here to read the short story now.

The setting for this story takes place early in the first half of the first book and it would probably fit right in the book as a full chapter in it's own right. Who knows, I may include it in some future 'special edition' of Emily & The Silent King.

I'm hoping to generate some comments with these short stories so please don't hesitate to leave a post and let me know if you liked the story or even if you didn't. (I'm always open to constructive criticism). I'm hoping active postings will help motivate me to write more short stories, so if you like it speak up and I'll write more. As always, I look forward to hearing from you.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Gygax the Great - DM of DM's

I just wanted to type a few words in honor of the memory of Gary Gygax. Like millions of other geeks who grew up in the 80's Mr. Gygax had a profound influence on my teenage years. He was the creator of the Dungeons & Dragons game and I can personally attest to hundreds of hours spent gathered around a table with my friends rolling funny shaped dice and cheering hits or misses. I would continue playing his game throughout most of my young adult life and though I no longer can seem to find time to play, I still gaze longingly at my game manuals gathering dust on my bookshelf.
D&D fed my hunger for more works of fantasy and his World of Greyhawk novels were instantly part of my expanding fantasy novel collection. I think I owe any creativity contained in my current artistic endeavors to the creative requirements of being designated Dungeon Master for most of my campaigns. I had to be lead writer, plot developer and artist for most of my gaming sessions. I created countless worlds and enjoyed populating them as I poured through my Dungeon Master's Guide or Monster Manual.
Even now with four children of my own I am still a fan of the D&D game and my children have entered into it's realm of imagination as well. I fully encourage them to play the game, knowing that it will help spark their imaginations and creativity in future endeavors.
So with these final words, I would like to say thank you to Gary Gygax for inspiring me and that I will always remember his name with great fondness. I for one feel sadder knowing that his jolly spirit is no longer among us.
Here are some other links to sites honoring the passing of a cultural icon: Penny-Arcade, xkcd,

Saturday, March 1, 2008

BOOK TWO RELEASED!!

Book two is officially ready! Devin & The Empire of Wolves is now available on lulu.com! I am really happy with the book and I think it will be a worthy followup to the first one! The price will go up when I apply for a ISBN number and enter it into the distrubtion system (this is not my choice, it has to do with the archaic way they calculate wholesale & markups). Until then you can get it on lulu. Click the bookstore link on the right hand side of my blog.

I'm already thinking about book three but again I think I need another break away from the stress of trying to get the books out.

I'm still impatiently waiting for Emily & the Silent King to show up in the global distribution database so that I can start selling it through Amazon.com. Keep your fingers crossed.